12th Amendment Artwork

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                                                       Thomas Jefferson VS. John Adams

For the second part of my blog I would like to delve into the background of how the twelfth amendment was created, which starts with the Election of 1800. The presidential candidates for the election of 1800 were John Adams (Federalist), Aaron Bur (Democratic-Republican), John Fay (Federalist), Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) and there were no 'official' vice presidential candidates in the election. With regards to the U.S. Constitution, electors made two choices for president and whoever received the most votes became president. The person with the second most votes became vice president. This changed however when 12th Amendment was ratified and brought about. Even though there was no official vice presidential candidate, Thomas Jefferson ran with Aaron Burr as his running mate. Their ticket received the most votes and the decision of who would be president was given to the electors. John Adams was paired with either Pinckney or Jay. Significant things to note from this is the aftermath of the Election of 1800 resulted in the passage of the 12th amendment in 1804 requiring that electors vote specifically for the offices of President and Vice President. This election is cited as key in proving that the United States could survive the exchange of power between opposing parties when the Democratic-Republicans took over after the Federalists had been in charge. This was very important because this would allow an election similar to the election of 1800's never to happen.